Ingenieurbüro Blumberg

Stormwater treatment biotopes

Most of all cities in the world have a combined sewerage
system. This means that domestic waste water and rainwater from paved
surfaces flow together through the same sewer system into the treatment
plant. During heavy rains a considerable amount of such combined waster
water would, in accordance with the prevailing rules of technology, be
allowed to flow untreated straight into the receiving river or be, as
the technical expression goes, “cleared”. By
contrast, in the combined waste water biotopes designed by
Blumberg-Engineers
such overflow is thoroughly treated, i.e. purified.

Having passed through open lagoons (settling pond and storage pond),
the water is finally treated in a reed planted soil filter before it is
discharged into the receiving river.
The receiving river is protected from peak flow of sewage discharge by
a large retention volume. The multi-stage purification cascade prevents
waste such as toiletries as well as deposits of settleable
mineral solids from escaping into streams and rivers. Organic
pollutants present in the storm water are oxidised and are thus unable
to cause any harm to the symbiosis of the receiving river.